I'm Gonna Have to Write a Book...

I'll title it "Things I Wish My Mother Would've Told Me"....or somthing to that effect. Included in this list of priceless gems would be: Never attempt to fry jalepenos, never put an onion through a salad shooter, if you go to a generous friend's house to pick tomatoes from her garden...don't pile them all into a paper or plastic bag and then leave them sit for 2 days in your garage, meaning to can them as soon as the weekend is over...they can't breath in there and will all rot...yes, in only two days. Then, dear daughter, don't attempt to pick up the bag, lest you have rotten, smelly, gooey tomatoes all over your floor, clothes and bare feet. You'll be so sad, dear daugher...don't do this. Yes...I wish my mother could have imparted this wisdom to me! I wish she would have told me that...Someday, dear daughter, you may have a young child who forgets to flush the toilet and in a moment distractedness, you'll miss your young, toddler 15 month old wander into the bathroom and sample small chocolates from the TOILET!! Don't panic, dear daughter, and call poison control and ask in a shreaking, high pitched voice if you should wipe out the baby's mouth with lysol wipes. This will cause the poison control person to shout "NO! Do Not put lysol in the baby's mouth!" And the posion control person will think there is a half witted, out of control, idiot woman somewhere trying to mother 3 helpless children. Remain calm, dear daugher, and all will be well. Yes...I'll have to write a book. More on this later...there's many more pearls of wisdom I wish I could've had...

A Tea Party for Bailey

Monday morning Bailey hosted a Tea Party in honor of Great Grandma Helen...we call her GG Helen :) She and Ron are here from California for a week. We had heart shaped tuna sandwiches, heart shaped jello jigglers, brownies, jelly beans and tea...Bailey's tea was chocolate milk. Grandma Diana decided on a "Garden Theme" and wore all her gardening gear that Brennan gave her for Mother's Day. Bailey gave us concert and sang "If You're Happy and You Know It". She had a blast and was a very good hostess :)

Brennan's First Summer Camp

Yay! Brennan's first summer camp. Brennan earned a scholarship through church to go to "First Chance Camp" at camp Koininia in Sweethome. We dropped him off on Sunday, June 28th and will pick him up on Wednesday morning. He was SOOOOO excited! I was worried he would be shy and have a hard time making friends, but another boy in his cabin appeared as Brennan was laying out his sleeping bag and offered to show him around. They were engrossed playing basketball in about 3 min. and Brennan didn't even see me leave. Hope he has a blast!!

Coast Pictures

Hmmm...Too much Hannah Montana?

Ok...we do not watch Hannah Montana at our house. Really. She's on the occasional commercial and featured on several items in the stores now so Bailey is vaguely aware of who she is. Bailey knows that she's "cool" and "pretty".

Today Bailey wanted to look like a big girl. She wanted to roll her pants up to look like capris and wear her new sandals. I couldn't blame her cause they are really cute sandals. I agreed and helped her with her pants. This is what followed...

Brennan: "Bailey! You look really good...like...a mom or something. Like a big highschool girl....you look like..."

Bailey: "Hannah Montana?"

Brennan: rolls his eyes and walks away. (smart boy)

The words of Bailey Marie...

Today during lunch...we're munching contentedly on tater tots when Bailey says..

"Mom, when I grow up to be a rock and roll star, do you want to be in my band?"

Mom: "Absolutely Bailey!"

Bailey: "Ok. You can play the fork and cup. It's good for making music because it's different and you can use the cup for a drink if you get thirsty."

Mom: "I'll look forward to that, Bailey dear. Eat your tater tots."

Why I DO NOT take out the trash...

In our home, Marc and I have struck a deal. I do not take out the trash and he is never asked to clean toilets. In the area of helping with house work, Marc is a true gem. But I have solemnly promised to never ask him to clean toilets. He would refuse anyway, so why bother? This seemed like a reasonable deal. However, sometimes my busy gem-of-a-husband "forgets" to take out the trash. So...Friday I decided to help out, go above and beyond and take out the trash. There was 4 inches of snow on the ground and Brennan and Bailey were enjoying themselves immensly throwing snowballs. I headed out of the house with two heavy bags of trash. Marc's leave-a-lot-to-be-desired trash system is a few barrels with a huge piece of plywood on top. This plywood is extremly heavy when wet...heavier still with snow on top...heavier still with huge fallen tree limbs precariously balanced on the roof of the pump house and hanging down onto the plywood. I carefully labored to lift the plywood and heaved in one bag of trash (I'm panting now)...all the while being pelted with snowballs by Brennan Jake (very funny Brennan). I lifted the second bag of trash and then....the giant limbs fell onto the plywood, knocking snow and the huge piece of plywood onto me. I fell onto the second bag of trash with the limb, snow and plywood on top of me. The dog started licking me, a Fruit Loops box fell out of the barrel and onto my chest, dumping the wonderfully sticky and fragrant powder from the bottom of the box down onto my neck and chest. The dog started licking me and Brennan capitalized on his opportunity to hit me in the head with snowballs, while laughing devilishly (really Brennan...you should stop now!). It was WONDERFUL. I had coffee grounds on my elbow, I was sticky and smelled like fruit loops and dog slobber and there was snow between my face and glasses, so I couldn't see. Fabulous.

And this is why I DO NOT take out the trash....EVER.